ladykatza

while christmas shopping for the kids we went to Media Play. while in a conversations with my husband i look up and realize there are a bunch of Klingons dressed in Santa Hats yelling merry christmas at shoppers. (they were there for toys for tots). i was suddenly in need of a camera that worked.

simon got a pair of small binoculars from his great grandpa. he was looking thought them at daecon…

daecon: simon, your binoculars are backwards.
simon: yes, i want you to be small so you’ll be scared of me

driving to my mother-in-law’s house i was having trouble remembering something…

me: the information is there, i just can’t recall it. guess i need to just let the search pattern run in the background until i find it. *facepalm* oh my god, i’m turning into an ubergeek!
daecon: too late.
me: *looking incredulous* what do you mean!
daecon: well… you installed linux and you have breasts. that’s like, a sign of the apacolypse.

Current Mood:  cold

one may have noticed, but the majority of what i post here is about experiences, thoughts, feeling, and the strange things my children say and do. i try to stay away from the complaining of annoying people, money problems, work problems, whatever. i don’t think that people really want or need to hear about the later. that’s not for public consumption.

however, i would like to share that i got all B’s with a 3.0 grade average my first semester back at college in nine years while changing jobs, working full time, raising kids, keeping up with friends, and making my husband happy. i think that’s pretty darned great, myself.

go. me. w00t.

Current Mood:  accomplished

so i can’t sleep. usually i just sort of lay there and think, and toss, and turn, and work myself up into a tizzy. tonight i decided to get up and fix a cup of tea. then i realized the kitchen had been neglected. don’t really want to wake up tomorrow, my first day back to work after a 5 day weekend, to a messy kitchen. so i cleaned it.

then fixed a cup of tea.

so… to those of you that buy Celestial Seasonings ™ tea, you’ve probably read the quotes on the box. they are hidden in all kinds of interesting places, so it becomes a fun game of hide and seek while you wait for water to boil. tonight i find on this box of tea the following quote:

“This is what I want from now on: a slower pace, a more centered existence, and the feeling of perfect happiness to be found in the moments I come home to myself.” -Linda Weltner

i had a conversation with someone that i had met briefly at Earthlink. one of the people that came to train us when they closed the other call center. he lives in L.A. now. he told me he didn’t like the holidays because it was stressful and sucked.. yadda yadda. it made me realize that this year i wasn’t that stressed. i did what i could, i spent time with family, and i let the rest go. the time with family is the important part right now, because there are several people near and dear to me that i don’t know how much time i have left with them. its something that i push out of my mind because i can’t worry about these things. worrying about them just makes life in the meantime more stressful.

we have too much stress in our lives as it is. you know… i just had a thought. i don’t think we work MORE so much as DIFFERENTLY than in generations past. life has changed so much that we don’t have coping mechanisms. we’ve forgotten how to relax. how to have a cup of tea and wait for water to boil.

in my dreams of upgrading this house, my new deck would have a covered arbor area with growing, flowering vines and a nice table to sit and enjoy the outside. there would be bird feeders galore so i can watch the birds fly around with lovely noised to go with good smells. i’d invite my girlfriends over for tea parties in the garden.

Current Mood: reflective

so simon was jumping up and down on the bed the other night while i was trying to get them into bed. not exactly and easy task of these days of sugar highs and staying up late.

so he starts pounding his chest going “ahhh eeeaaahhh aaahhh”.

me: simon! are you king kong?
simon: no… who’s that?
me: oh.. he’s a BIIIG gorilla, almost a HUNDRED FEET tall! (100 is currently magic WOW THAT’S BIG number).
simon: one hundred feet?! *quizical look*
me: yes simon, see, you’re only THREE feet tall.
simon: no i’m not! i’m only TWO feet tall. *sits down and shows me this feet* see? two. one, two!

Current Mood:  amused

if you haven’t noticed, most major religions of the western hemisphere have a major holiday in winter months. it is my observation this is because in the clutches of winter, we need a celebration to remind us of why we are alive. a time to celebrate with what special harvests was gotten in the fall, a time to relieve the depression of longer nights.

i am thankful for my health, family, friends, and job. i’m thankful i can keep a roof over my head and food on my table. i am thankful for the amount of love i have in my life.

i still miss my grandmother.

Current Mood:  thoughtful

so simon comes downstairs the other night to tell me that he can’t sleep. well… here was the conversation:

simon: um… elizabeth?
me: yes simon?
simon: i can’t sleep because there are imps in the refrigerator.
me: what?
simon: there are imps in the refrigerator.
me: what imps?
simon: didn’t you hear them open the door?
me: no. no simon, there are no imps in the refrigerator.
simon: you mean they left!?
me: no simon, there are no imps. go back to bed.
simon: but i can’t, there’s imps.
me: the imps left simon, go to bed.
simon: but you said there were no imps, you mean they just left?
me: *blink* simon. go to bed.
simon: but the imps might come back.
me: there are no imps! go to bed!
simon: *sniffle*
me: i love you simon. no imps will get you under my roof. now… go. to. bed.

simon finally goes to bed. the mystery of the imps has yet to be solved. however, we still have a gnome that turns the light off.

Current Mood:  confused

the other day in psychology class we had to do an excersice on stress. the worksheet had a list of things with assigned numerical value. we then went over what the total meant for the amount of stress in our lives. my total was off the chart. i was under the “life-crisis” stage. not only that, i’ve been there for the past three years.

then comes today, the day of my last final and last day of classes _for real_. upon finishing the final and walking to my car i started to laugh and cry all at the same time. i didn’t stop until i got to work. “why this reaction?” i asked myself.

the answer? i accomplished something i started out to do, something that i wasn’t able to do 10 years ago. i signed up for classes, i made it THROUGH all those classes WITHOUT dropping any and still maintaining a B average. on top of this i did it through the turmoil of the rest of my life. losing my job, getting a new one, my grandmother dying… not to mention my husband’s job situation.

i did it. i did it IN SPITE of everything else and the realization of this made me giddy. i CAN do it, its not impossible.

thank you to all my family and friends that support me and make sure i don’t go insane. i love you.

Current Mood:  accomplished

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. -J. R. R. Tolkien

we went to the Ikea store this past sunday. in the process of looking around we found a kitchen table that we like. i’ve been wanting a new table for a while, and so has daecon. granted, we want one for somewhat different reasons.

i think this goes back to our earlier dating. we would venture out and realize that we were hungry. i’d want to go sit down and eat somewhere and daecon would want to “grab something quick so we could spent time doing other things together”.

now, here is where i think i failed to communicate properly in the past (we have since had dialouge about this, which is good). how is sitting at a table and sharing a meal NOT spending time with me?

i think i have hit a nerve here with many people in this country. so often we grab something QUICK, so we can hurry on to do other things. i have to say that some of my fonder memories are of the conversations that we’ve had sitting down over a nice meal. when we take time to enjoy our food and our company, we eat slower, we eat less, and we reduce our stress level. none of this is a bad thing.

i’m skipping around here, but lets get back to that table daecon and i were looking at and wanting for different reasons. _i_ want it so i can have a large table to sit down and enjoy a well prepared meal with friends and leisurely conversation. _he_ wants a large table for the purposes of gaming with plenty of room, and leisurely conversation.

oh look… i think we’ve found common ground. a sit-down meal followed by gaming (of the card and board game type). compromise and communication are the art of marriage.

however, it goes deeper than this for me. it is important to me that family (and friends) share time and food across a good table. something that is not rushed, but enjoyed and relished. these are the types of things that build memories that are so often overlooked.

as an aside: a friend called up and to suggest dinner one night. i started saying “oh ya, that’s a great idea, i’ve got…” and was cut off at that instant.

he said “i was thinking spaghetti. its quick, cheap, and easy.”

i was silent for a moment. “oh wow, i’m glad you suggested that. i was starting to fret.”

he replied, “i know, you think too big sometimes. don’t worry, no one will think less of you. its still a home cooked meal.” (but just so you know, i didn’t get the pre-made garlic bread, just fresh baked deli bread, butter, and some spices.)

Current Mood:  thoughtful